data/sessions/explorer-create-textfile/memory.md

# Memory: explorer-create-textfile

## Overview

Create an empty text file in a folder through the file manager's New submenu. Use this
when a placeholder file is needed and nothing has to be written into it. The route
right-clicks empty space in the folder, follows New to Text Document, and types the name
over the default one the file manager has already put into rename mode. The recorded trace
leaves an empty `note.txt` in the working folder.

## Prerequisites

- A desktop environment with a file manager that can create a new empty file of a given
  type, or a shell.
- A destination folder that exists and is writable, and that is the active target when the
  file is created.
- The file's name decided in advance, including its extension. The file-manager route
  creates the file with a default name already in rename mode and keeps the extension for
  you; a shell route names the whole thing, extension included.
- No existing file of that name at the destination.
- Clarity that the file is meant to be empty. Both routes produce a zero-length file, and
  nothing later in the task puts anything in it.
- An expectation that the file type must be offered by the environment. The file-manager
  route creates only the types listed in its New menu, which varies by machine.

## Steps

### Step 1 — Right-click at (900, 600)

The task is to create a new, empty text file in this folder. Move the cursor and Right-click blank space below the file list to open the folder's own context menu — the file-creation command lives there, not on any item's menu.

![Step 1](vision/frames/step_0001_20260731_131947_at.webp)

### Step 2 — Move-cursor at (946, 929)

Move the cursor onto the **`New ›`** row so the submenu opens on hover and the target is visible in the frame before anything is committed. Note that `New` sits lower here than in the desktop menu, because a folder's menu additionally carries `Group by ›` and `Customize this folder…` above it.

![Step 2](vision/frames/step_0002_20260731_131951_at.webp)

### Step 3 — Left-click at (946, 929)

Move the cursor and Left-click **`New ›`** to hold the submenu open. Worth noticing in passing: `Paste` and `Paste shortcut` further up this menu are greyed out, confirming the clipboard is empty — nothing from an earlier take is carrying over.

![Step 3](vision/frames/step_0003_20260731_131954_at.webp)

### Step 4 — Move-cursor at (1264, 906)

Move the cursor across into the submenu and onto **`Text Document`**. `Rich Text Document` sits directly above it and would produce a `.rtf` file with formatting markup inside, not the plain text file the task specifies.

![Step 4](vision/frames/step_0004_20260731_131959_at.webp)

### Step 5 — Left-click at (1264, 906)

Move the cursor and Left-click **`Text Document`**. Explorer creates an empty `New Text Document.txt` in the folder and immediately opens an inline edit box on its name, so it is ready to rename with no further action.

![Step 5](vision/frames/step_0005_20260731_132002_at.webp)

### Step 6 — Type: note

Type `note`. Only the stem `New Text Document` is selected in the edit box — `.txt` sits outside the selection — so the typed text replaces the stem and the extension is kept. Typing `note.txt` here would have produced `note.txt.txt`.

![Step 6](vision/frames/step_0006_20260731_132007_at.webp)

### Step 7 — Press: Enter

After typing `note` Press Enter to commit the name, leaving `note.txt` in `corpus-seed`. The file is empty, which is what the task asks for; until Enter is pressed it would still be called `New Text Document.txt` on disk.

![Step 7](vision/frames/step_0007_20260731_132010_at.webp)

## Notes & Edge Cases

1. Only the name stem is selected when the file manager drops the new file into rename mode — the extension sits outside the selection and is kept for you. Typing the full `note.txt` there produces `note.txt.txt`. Type the stem alone on this route, and the whole name including the extension on a shell route.
2. If the system is configured to hide known file extensions, the name shown in the window is not the name on disk. A file displayed as `note` may already be `note.txt`, and typing `note.txt` into that box gives the doubled extension without anything on screen showing it. Check how the environment displays extensions before judging a name to be wrong.
3. The New submenu offers only the file types the machine has registered, so the list differs between computers and the wanted type may not be there at all. `Rich Text Document` usually sits directly next to `Text Document` and produces a formatted `.rtf` file whose contents are not plain text — close in the menu, not close in the result.
4. Right-click empty space, not a file. The menu that opens depends on what is under the pointer: empty space gives the folder's own menu where file creation lives, while a file gives that file's menu instead. If the wrong menu appears, dismiss it and re-aim rather than hunting for the item inside it.
5. Both routes make a genuinely empty file. Nothing opens for editing and there is nothing to save, so a zero-length file is the finished artifact and not a sign the task stopped halfway.
6. The name is not committed until Return is pressed. Until then the file exists on disk under the default name the system gave it, so a take that stops after typing leaves a differently named file behind rather than no file at all.